“Broken” subs come trailing their various peccadilloes (everything from vanity to drug addiction to histories of abuse) and, in his capacity as “professional sir,” Fell seeks to understand what each one needs and how best their owners might meet those needs. More problematic are his relationships with the Doms, many of whom are ill prepared for their roles, some of whom are old friends of Fell’s, and all of whom have something to learn from this “Dom’s Dom.” The challenge for the self-contained Fell is to learn his own lessons in the process.
 
Most compelling of all, of course, is Dr. Fell himself. Many of the most memorable novels of the BDSM lifestyle, including classic leather tales, are told from the perspective of the submissive, to whom the Dom is an enigmatic monolith. Not so here. Dr. Fell, grieving his murdered lover and disenchanted with the academic career he worked for years to achieve, is an enigma to himself. His journey from stand-in Dom to Dominant lover ready to take a new sub is compelling from just about any applicable genre perspective, including romance. But Fell is anything but a traditional romantic lead. Dr. Fell is a working class kid in a field (Renaissance Studies) and subculture (D/s) that don’t suffer interlopers lightly. In turn, Dr. Fell holds himself - and those around him - to a very high standard indeed. Authenticity - not opulence, not credentials - is his yardstick.
 
DIALOGUE    Narrated in Dr. Fell’s strong first person voice, the stories convey a terrific sense of their protagonist. But the subs, in particular, shine in their dialogue. Each voice is distinct, and each character contributes something. And whether internal or between characters, the dialogue is where Syd McGinley’s sly, dry wit come across. The verbal interplay is one of the great pleasures of the Fell series, which is entirely appropriate to a story that revolves around a character for whom words are both passion and paycheck.
 
SEX    Yes, these are sexy stories. For those readers for whom D/s is something new, or who profess it’s not their thing, I would argue that the Dr. Fell series offers the deep psychology and the deep eroticism of the lifestyle without ever drifting into the didactic. The matter-of-fact descriptions of D/s work and play are exciting, imaginative, and hot, always integral to the plot, and always true to character. When the odd vanilla scene pops up, it seems strange and exotic by comparison.
 
PLOT    Each tale within the Dr. Fell cycle is a complete, well-crafted story with a solid resolution. While certain elements are integral to all the stories -- Dr. Fell grieving the his beloved Rob, for example -- others rise and fall within specific tales. The in-progress three part novella series collectively titled “Lost and Found” deals as much with Dr. Fell’s reclamation of self as it does with his search for a new sub to love. The plots are sometimes light (as in the holiday romps “Samhain” and “Sol Invictus”) and other times heart wrenching (as in the first Lost and Found tale, “Pet Rescue”), but they are consistently absorbing and fully rendered.
 
Readers of gay literary fiction, m/m romance, and BDSM fiction all will find something to love in these stories. I’d even go so far as to say that, with their multitudinous cast, timely plot elements, high drama, deft humor, and huge heart, they give classic soaps like Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City a run for their money.